These days, there seems to be a trend of indie pop musicians toning down the reverb and girl group influences in favour a slightly cleaner, more straightforward sound.

La Sera‘s “Please Be My Third Eye” (from her forthcoming Sees the Light LP, due March 27 through Hardly Art) reflects that shift. It’s an upbeat stomper that is hardly clean, but there’s not the same level of swampy reverb as we used to hear from Vivian Girls-related projects. Nicely played, Kickball Katy.

2011 is shaping up to be a big year for Vivian Girls. Not only do they have an album of their own coming out, but frontwoman Cassie Ramone will be releasing a LP with the Babies and bassist Kickball Katy (Katy Goodman) will be doing the same with her project La Sera. Here’s another tune from the latter called “Devils Hearts Grow Gold.” (I know, the missing apostrophe bugs me too). In some ways it sounds a lot like Vivian Girls, with its lovely girl group harmonies and instantly-hummable melodies. It’s a lot gentler than most of that band’s output, however, with its steadily plodding rhythm, strummed acoustic guitar and tinkling main riff.

By the way, for those of you who don’t parle Français, La Sera is French for “The Sera.” (Thanks, Chris.)

Katy Goodman (aka Kickball Katy) is a woman with a milkshake tattoo on her arm (see the picture to the right), so it’s no surprise that she’s got a penchant for vintage girl group pop. Here’s “Never Come Around,” which is the A-side of her new single as La Sera. This one is a little softer than her work with Vivian Girls, but the massive Phil Spector-style production means that it’s equally fantastic. In fact, it sounds a hell of a lot like the solo work of her former bandmate, Frankie Rose.

Thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear for this. Apparently the song will appear on a full-length, coming out in 2011. The 7″ is due out November 16 via Hardly Art, and comes backed with a track called “Behind Your Eyes.”